Leinster GAA Hurling Championship Final
Kilkenny 4-17 Dublin 1-15
Kilkenny gained sweet revenge for their Allianz Hurling League final defeat to Dublin by retaining their Leinster GAA Hurling Championship in style with a 4-17 to 1-15 defeat of Anthony Daly’s side at Croke Park on Sunday.
Kilkenny’s goal-scoring ability may have been the difference between the sides in the end, but Dublin were comprehensively outplayed by a Kilkenny side who were back at full strength and back to their very best.
The Cats led by 2-10 to 0-7 at the break, Eoin Larkin and Colin Fennelly scoring their goals in the first half before Henry Shefflin and Michael Rice got in on the act in the second half.
Paul Ryan gave Dublin hope, cutting the gap to six points, with a goal from a free in the 56th minute, but Kilkenny clinically stomped out the revival by marching up the other end of the field and plundering their fourth goal, Rice finishing to the net and with it the game as a contest.
Dublin, already down key players such as Ryan O’Dwyer and Tomás Brady, lost centre-back Joey Boland after 20 minutes, the decision to gamble on his fitness after a lengthy injury lay-off appearing to backfire.
However, with all their big name players back in the team, Brian Cody’s side simply dominated this game from start to finish, as Tommy Walsh gave another masterful performance from wing-back, having missed the first Championship game of his career against Wexford, while Henry Shefflin finished with 1-9.
Kilkenny got the start Dublin needed. They were 0-3 to 0-1 ahead inside the first six minutes, Shefflin with a pair of frees and Michael Rice finishing a move following terrific link-up play by the Kilkenny forwards. Dublin were struggling to cope with the Cats’ intensity and their only score in the first 10 minutes came from a Paul Ryan free. Walsh, in particular, was brilliant in that opening period, making a string of catches from wing-back.
There was no doubt that Kilkenny were a very different team from the one that lost the Allianz league final and they made a big statement when Eoin Larkin, who started at full-forward, fired their first goal in the 11th minute. Colin Fennelly fed Larkin, who raced to the endline and drove home from a narrow angle.
Dublin were clearly shell-shocked by the sheer power the Leinster champions brought to the game. Alan McCrabbe and Conor McCormack did briefly halt Kilkenny’s march, but a second goal on 20 minutes re-asserted the Cats’ absolute dominance. This time Fennelly turned finisher, running onto a ball played into space in the corner, beating Oisín Gough for pace on the outside and leaving Gary Maguire with no chance with a well-placed shot.
Ebullient and full of confidence going into the game, the air appeared to have been sucked from Dublin’s challenge with those two early goals. It seemed like it just wasn’t going to be their day when Boland, just returned from a dislocated shoulder, was called ashore, with Maurice O’Brien coming into midfield and Liam Rushe dropping back to centre-back. As reshuffles go, it wasn’t that radical, given that is how Dublin finished the semi-final against Galway when they lost Tomás Brady to an early injury.
There was little doubt that Dublin had been outfought and outmuscled in the opening stages. Conal Keaney appeared to be particularly affronted by this and a shuddering shoulder on Shefflin showed the kind of fight Daly’s men would need to take to their opponents in order to live with them. McCrabbe responded to the urgings of his team-mate, and a pair of frees from Paul Ryan had the gap down to six, 2-6 to 0-6.
Dublin really needed a goal before the break and they came agonisingly close in the 33rd minute, when a long ball into a crowded goalmouth deflected off Noel Hickey, wrong-footing Kilkenny David Herity in the process and appeared to be trickling over the line. Herity, however, adjusted his footing brilliantly and spectacularly scooped the ball off the line to save what appeared to be a certain goal.
As if to emphasise just how costly a miss that was, Kilkenny went up the other end and scored three points in added time from Shefflin (2) and Brian Hogan, giving them a 2-10 to 0-7 half-time lead. Dublin had another goal chance at the start of the second half when Simon Lambert miscued when presented with what looked like a simple chance. But Dublin have struggled for goals all year and their luck had yet again deserted them.
Kilkenny, it appeared, had sucked the life out of Dublin and they seemed to have flatlined when Shefflin applied the daggers with a third goal in the 43rd minute. With the Dublin defence AWOL, Reid found the Ballyhale man in space and he ruthlessly found the net to give the men in tiger stripes a 12-point, 3-11 to 0-8, lead.
From then on, the outcome was inevitable. Dublin relied almost exclusively on Paul Ryan and the Ballyboden St Enda’s man obliged when called upon from placed balls.
Hopes of a Dublin revival flickered briefly when Ryan scored Dublin’s first goal against Kilkenny in 14 years, his low free scudding to the back of the net after Jackie Tyrrell had been penalised for a foul on O’Brien. The gap was down to a mere six points, 3-13 to 1-13, but the home crowd were disappointed when within a minute Kilkenny had a fourth goal.
Minutes earlier, Dublin goalkeeper Maguire had saved brilliantly from Larkin, but he had no chance when Richie Power won a long ball and off-loaded to Rice, who rammed his shot to the back of the net. It was, everyone agreed, the end of the game as a genuine contest.
Richie Hogan and Shefflin added scores from play and Kilkenny had extended their lead before they could even afford to miss another goal chance at the death, John Mulhall failing to find the net after Maguire’s save from a Power shot had dropped into his path.
It mattered little. Kilkenny had already claimed a seventh successive Leinster GAA Hurling Championship title, and although their winning margin of 11 was one short of Dublin’s in the Allianz League final, the message was clear: Kilkenny are back. Had they ever really gone away?
Dublin Scorers: C Keaney 0-1, C McCormack 0-1, A McCrabbe 0-2, P Ryan 1-9 (1-9f), D Plunkett 0-1, M O’Brien 0-1.
Kilkenny Scorers: B Hogan 0-1, M Rice 1-2, R Power 0-1, E Larkin 1-2, C Fennelly 1-0, H Shefflin 1-9 (0-7f), R Hogan 0-2.
Dublin: G Maguire, N Corcoran, P Kelly, O Gough; J McCaffrey, J Boland, S Durkin, L Rushe, C Keaney, C McCormack, A McCrabbe, S Lambert, D O'Callaghan, P Ryan, P Carton. Subs: M O’Brien (0-1) for Boland (20), P Shutte for Gough (HT), D O’Dwyer for P Carton (HT), D Plunkett for Keaney (39, temp), Keaney for Plunkett (40), Plunkett (0-1) for Lambert (44), S Ryan for D O’Callaghan (65).
Kilkenny: D Herrity, N Hickey, JJ Delaney, J Tyrrell, T Walsh, B Hogan, P Murphy, M Fennelly, M Rice, TJ Reid, R Power, E Larkin, C Fennelly, H Shefflin, R Hogan. Subs: M Ruth for Larkin (12 temp), Larkin for Ruth (13), P Hogan for Delaney (HT), J Fitzpatrick for TJ Reid (53), M Ruth for R Power 971), J Mulhall for Larkin (71).
Referee: Barry Kelly (Westmeath)
Attendance: 33, 814
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